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Grupo Marca Registrada nabs its first entry and top 10 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart, as Don’t Stop the Magic debuts at No. 9 on the May 27-dated ranking. The group is just the second act to start in the top 10 in its first visit with a regional Mexican album in 2023, after Yng Lvcas’ LPM (La Perreo Mixtape) bowed at No. 8 on the list dated April 8.
The full-length dropped May 12 via RB/Interscope, the quartet’s first album release after the regional Mexican indie label RB Music, home to Grupo Marca Registrada, teamed up with Interscope last October. The top 10 arrival concurrently gifts RB Music its first Top Latin Albums appearance and its first top 10 there. Interscope, meanwhile, returns to the ranking’s upper region following the No. 1 debut of Selena Gomez’s Revelación EP in March 2021.
Don’t Stop the Magic starts with 8,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 18, according to Luminate. Streaming powers most of the set’s debut. That sum equates to 13.1 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs.
On the multimetric Top Latin Albums chart as measured in equivalent album units, each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.
As mentioned, Grupo Marca Registrada captures its first top 10 on any albums chart. Plus, Magic also arrives at No. 4 on Regional Mexican Albums, likewise securing the Sinaloans a first top 10 on their maiden chart visit there.
Magic includes a bevy of regional Mexican artists, including the partnership with Grupo Frontera, “Di Que Sí,” which conceded Registrada a first top 10 on Latin Airplay – currently on its second week at its No. 3 high. With the album cut, the group also secured a first No. 1 on Regional Mexican Airplay on the April 29-dated list, leading for three consecutive weeks.
Further, Registrada makes its Billboard 200 debut, with Magic’s start at No. 187.
Sueños Music Festival is all about having a lasting impact on the community of Chicago, and not just by producing an all-Latin music festival in the Windy City. Sueños, produced by C3 (Lollapalooza) and La Familia (Baja Beach Fest), is committed to giving back to local organizations across the city that serve predominantly Latino neighborhoods.
On Thursday (May 25), just days ahead of the second edition of Sueños — which will be headlined by Wisin Y Yandel, Feid, Nicky Jam and Grupo Firme — the two-day music event has announced $50,000 donations to four organizations, including the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center (SRBCC), one of the city’s longest-standing cultural centers that celebrates Puerto Rican and Afro-Latino traditions offering percussion classes, dance and culinary lessons and community workshops to both children and adults.
It’s the second year Sueños donates $50,000 to SRBCC. Last year, the money donated went towards the newly-renovated youth media center that includes a recording booth, radio and podcasting studio, and two performance spaces for music and dance programs. The center provides Latin youth access to instruments, recording tools, film equipment and performance space at little or no cost. This year, the donation will go to the center’s performing arts theater.
“This donation allows us to dream big,” Omar Torres Kortright, executive director of Segundo Ruiz, said during the presentation of the new $50,000 donation. “We’re always trying to get the attention of corporate donors to support this very important work but many times we’re invisible. We don’t speak the same language as the big corporations but Sueños did their homework. They found us.”
Christian Duran
“When we were coming out to Chicago with the festival, the plan was always to be involved in the community,” Aaron Ampudia, co-founder of Sueños, tells Billboard. “We want to have a positive impact, it’s not just about the festival. It really comes from the heart and the desire to want to help these places that are doing great work for the community, especially for the youth because they are the future of these communities.”
As Ampudia spoke to Billboard, one of the students was already busy in the recording booth working on new beats. “The kids love it,” Torres Kortright says about the new media center. “Everything that we can do to have them spend more time here is huge for us. It keeps their imagination going. It helps them find their voice. They know there’s a place that will use their resources to take them to the next level.”
Christian Duran
Christian Duran
Other local organizations that will benefit from the donations, each will get $50,000 according to festival organizers, are The National Museum of Mexican Art, Pilsen Neighbors Community Council and the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance.
The lineup for the Sueños Music Festival — which will take place over Memorial Day Weekend (May 27-28) in Chicago’s Grant Park — will also host reggaeton icon Ivy Queen, as well as Becky G, Eladio Carrion, Chencho Corleone, Junior H, Gera MX, Ryan Castro, Young Miko, paopao and more.
On Sólo Muere Si Se Olvida — which loosely translates to “only dead if forgotten” — Adriel Favela steps away from his signature corridos that have been his core sound for a decade.
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The Mexican singer, known for his top 10 hits on Billboard’s Latin Airplay and Regional Mexican Airplay charts such as “Tomen Nota” and “Con un Botecito a Pecho,” most recently released the six-track EP via Fonovisa/Universal.
Recorded at the Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas, Favela collaborates with artists such as Kiko Cibrián, who is in charge of vocally directing the singer in his debut with rancheras, and Favela’s leading producer, Daniel Valenzuela. It also includes the EP’s first single “En Este Amor” and the sweet title track “Sólo Muere Si Se Olvida,” featuring romantic pop singer Kurt.
“This project has been about letting me flow, it has nothing to do with musical trends,” says Favela. “Right now I’m not in a violent wave of corridos. I’m no longer living as before, it’s a personal growth and I believe that it is valid to live in both”.
The 30-year-old musician recently spoke with Billboard Español about his new set, which also include songs “Buscando el Olvido,” “Niña Bonita,” “Mi Condena” and “Amor Real”.
Below, Favela breaks down each of the tracks on his new EP in the order in which they appear:
“En Este Amor”
A “very significant” ranchera ballad, according to Favela, because it represents his “debut” with mariachi. “In this love, things were unbalanced/ For my part, I gave up what I didn’t have/ On the other hand, you gave nothing/ In this love, it’s my turn to be the one to forget you,” he sings.
“Buscando el Olvido”
The perfect combination of country music and mariachi, this song is the “most fun” one on the album, according to Favela. “It takes too much to erase the memories / For lovesickness there is no other remedy / Drunk, I don’t think about her kisses / I forget how much I love her,” he sings.
“Niña Bonita“
A love ballad with a music video was filmed in Paris. “It was very special for me to be there and see my mariachi wearing charro suits away from Mexico,” he says excitedly.
“Mi Condena”
A heartbreak track in which he was accompanied by Ismael de la Rosa and Yerai Cortés, who give mariachi a twist with their powerful flamenco performance.
“Amor Real”
Another beautiful ranchera ballad of heartbreak created out of “the personal need to send a positive message in these times”, says Favela. “I wanted to take my fans and those who have joined me to the depths of my heart.”
“Sólo Muere Si Se Olvida”
Dedicated to his late grandmother, the song is about how “we want to transcend [and] how we want to be remembered”, he explains. Adding that recording it with Kurt was a “very special” experience. “I have always been honest with what I sing and live,” concludes the artist. “Today I’m enjoying life in a totally different way.”
Earlier this month, Rels B (a.k.a. Skinny Flakk) sold out the renowned Foro Sol stadium, where he performed for more than 60,000 people — a notable milestone for an artist from Spain who’s still relatively new, and with very few Billboard chart entries. A 14-year-old Rels (real name: Daniel Heredia Vidal) would have never imagined it either.
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“I began writing music when I was 11 years old,” he tells Billboard, crediting Eminem as his biggest lyricist inspiration. “Shortly after, when I was 14, I downloaded a [computer] program called FL Studio, and with zero Euros or investment, I was able to create instrumentals and my own beats. That’s when I fully stuck to music.”
The Spanish rapper and singer first tested his luck by producing his own music for four years. At the age of 18, he decided to launch his singing career. “From there, I began to like singing and composing more,” he assures.
Rels, a native of Mallorca (one of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean), began to gain notoriety locally — but it was with his viral track “Mary Jane,” released in 2015, that he was able to export his craft internationally. “The song went to the other side of the pond,” he notes. “Later on, some of my older songs began getting traction and more people began to listen to everything that we had been putting out. With that [song] we were able to launch my first tour and the truth is that with the Internet, everything goes very quickly.”
So much so, in fact, that the first time he traveled outside his native Spain for a concert was seven years ago to perform in Mexico City for a crowd of about 300 people — which is why he decided to close his Skinny Flakk Tour at the renowned Foro Sol stadium on May 6, as a love letter to his loyal fans.
Rels B
DalePlay Records
Inspired by acts such as Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Tego Calderon, and Hector El Father, Rels’ music is a fusion of R&B and urban/pop, with highly relatable lyrics and memorable melodies. His singles “Dime Cuantas Veces,” with Micro TDH, Lenny Tavarez and Justin Quiles, “Se Me Olvido” with Gera MX, “Lo Que Hay X Aqui,” and “Como Dormiste?” have all entered the Billboard charts.
Still, with all his success, he’s helping usher in the flourishing music scene in Spain, which he says is currently having a “¡momentazo!” (or huge moment).
“Internationally, I think it is the best music moment for Spain after so many years, because very young kids are going viral and that’s incredible,” he elaborates. “In my generation, it was more challenging to leave Spain — but lately, what’s happening with Quevedo, for example, is crazy! In a matter of months, he went viral and has the respect of the whole world. Now we are also seeing many Spanish artists at the top of the local charts. I think it’s a huge moment for Spanish music right now.”
Rels is co-managed by industry leaders Federico Lauria (CEO of DalePlay) and Pepo Ferradas (CEO of FPM Entertainment).
Name: Daniel Heredia Abidal
Age: 29
Recommended Song: “La Prisión” — “I wrote this song at a moment that I felt bad, right after the pandemic,” he says. “It was at a time that I wanted to quit music, I fought with all my friends — and this song is a testament that everything was OK, but I didn’t want to continue doing this. As time passed, many fans thanked me for doing this song, because it helped them. I think that if I can demonstrate one song, with my entire heart, it would be this one.”
Major Accomplishment: “I think the most important thing until now has been [selling out] Foro Sol. But prior to that, I’ve had moments in other countries that were just as important for me. In Medellín, for example, we headlined and sold-out La Solar Festival last year. I got very emotional, because I sold out my favorite city outside of my home.”
What’s Next: “I’m going to launch the heaviest project I’ve ever created. I feel confident and mature about what I’m doing, and I’m going to release exactly what I want. It’s a full Afrobeats album called Afroloba, that I’ve been working on for three to four years already. My producers are very connected with this culture, and we’ve traveled to Nigeria to work with producers there as well. It’s a project that I believe will mark a before-and-after for the Afrobeats genre. Soon we’ll begin releasing the singles.”
Indie music company Reservoir Media has acquired the rights to the full catalog of drummer and songwriter Enrique “Kiki” García. García, who was part of Miami Sound Machine, penned many of the group’s biggest hits in its heyday with Gloria Estefan as its lead singer, including the much synchronized “Conga.”
García also wrote Miami Sound Machine’s 1984 breakout “Dr. Beat” and co-wrote several tracks along Estefan, including “1-2-3,” “Give It Up,” and “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” for the group’s final album, Let it Loose.
But García is best known for “Conga,” which he famously penned on a flight from Utrecht, in the Netherlands, after playing a successful club show the night before.
“The performance stayed on my mind all night,” García recounted in the book Decoding Despacito: An Oral History of Latin Music. “The next day, as we got on the plane and I sat down, this song comes flying out of my mind. I start tapping on the seat table in front of me and I’m singing, “Come on, shake your body, baby, do the song. The rest was sketchy, but by the time we landed I had it all put together. I got up and sang my idea to Emilio and he loved it from the start.”
“Conga” would go on to became an international hit, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Feb. 8, 1986.
After leaving Miami Sound Machine, García continued working with top Latin musicians like Chayanne and Julio Iglesias, while “Conga” and his other hits remain widely and constantly licensed.
“Kiki has contributed so much to the face of modern music as we know it. His collaborations with the Miami Sound Machine brought Latin music to mainstream audiences,” said Golnar Khosrowshahi, Reservoir’s founder & CEO, in a statement. “Embarking on this deal with Kiki marks a notable expansion of our rights in Latin American music and is an exciting opportunity to further diversify our catalog while maintaining our focus on acquiring the rights to evergreen hits.”
At 17, Khea decided to quit school for a year to follow his dreams. It was that same year, in 2017, that his career began to flourish. By the age of 20, the Argentine artist born Ivo Alfredo Thomas Serue managed to scale the Billboard charts with his trap and hip-hop fusions and inked a deal with Interscope Records worldwide in early 2020.
But in the midst of his skyrocketing success, Khea lost himself and his love for his craft.
“I didn’t want to continue writing songs like that, which from my perspective, were somewhat empty,” he tells Billboard of his songs such as “Ayer Me Llamo Mi Ex” (2020) and “Wacha” (2021), both of which entered the Billboard charts. “I was already distancing myself from this world.”
He admits that he fell into severe depression during the pandemic but thanks to a solid support system and an understanding record label, he was not only able to pull through and heal, but also give life to his new studio album Serotonina.
The set — musically charged with R&B, salsa and EDM fusions and lyrically backed by deep content — is his first set in three years and his most ultra-personal production de yet.
Below, the Argentine act opens up to Billboard about his battle with mental health and how he’s coping today.
The powerful intro in Serotonina really sets the tone not only for the rest of the album but also sheds light on your own personal struggles with fame and depression: Why did you feel this is the correct time to open up about your mental health battle?
It’s really not about the “right time.” It was what happened to me and what I wanted to communicate. The moment happened like this. Clearly, I wanted to return to music and I did not want to come back with the message that I was communicating before. Beyond the moment, everything I want to communicate today is found in this album.
Can you take us back to the time in your career when you felt a disconnect with your music?
In the last months, before I fell into depression, I was already writing ultra-deep lyrics. But at the same time, I was releasing songs such as “Ayer Me Llamo Mi Ex” and “Wacha,” and similar songs that made me realize I didn’t want to continue writing songs like that, which from my perspective, were somewhat empty. I was writing other things, and listening to other types of music, like Silvio Rodriguez. I was already distancing myself from this world. But when this began to happen to me personally—looking down on myself and not being able to go outside because I had anxiety attacks—I really thought that one of the things that caused me to be like this was that I was no longer connecting with what my art said. So this whole process also went beyond a search to grow personally and it was rediscovering my musical self.
We know the album was born during a turbulent time in your life: Can you elaborate more on the creative process?
I went to the south of my country to a house in Bariloche for 20 days with my producer Nobeat, my engineer Mariano Bilinkins, and Spreadlof, a composer from Spain that my record label introduced me. Spreadlof helped me a lot in this new part of the composition, but he also helped me a lot personally, that’s why I decided to take him with me to do this album. We connect very well. The ideas and the demos of the album were created in those 20 days. Afterward, it took many months of work, production, and changing lyrics and melodies, it was a 10-month process.
You are an open book in every lyric on the album: Which of the 13 tracks would you say was the most difficult to pen and why?
Really, “Eclipse” was the most difficult. It was even the one that scared me the most to release and that’s why I decided to make it my first single because it was the only way to face my fear. I feel that I show myself super vulnerable and it’s a genre with new melodies and less autotune. I think that was the hardest to finish writing and also to release.
You’re known as a pioneer of the Argentine trap movement but this album is far from that—it’s the most experimental we’ve heard you: What motivated you to create EDM, tropical music, and other genres?
I wanted to create an experimental album. I wanted to travel to the south of my country and work on a conceptual album [inside a home] how artists such as Queen, The Beatles, and Rolling Stones, used to do. I feel that that way of creating music is incredible because it’s like locking yourself in a time machine and training every day to get the best out of you. I had in mind to create all the versatility you hear on the record, and I am very satisfied with the result.
In “Nunca Voy Solo,” there’s a phrase that says: “ya cai, ya falle, con los mios me levante” (I fell, I failed, but I got up with my people): Who would you say was crucial in your healing process?
Everyone in my personal environment, from my girlfriend to my friends to my family, gave me a very strong emotional containment when I was going through this process. My label, Interscope, knew how to give me my time and had patience. They understood that I was going through a very difficult time. I really believe that giving a person time—not pushing, not judging, and just listening and trying to understand that it’s a process and that he or she is going to get out of that place—is the best way to give containment.
One of the two collaborations on this album is “Para Amarte A Ti” with Tiago PZK—a colleague you have joined forces with on multiple occasions: What does he represent in your life?
For me, beyond the fact that he is a colleague in the industry, he’s like a literal brother to me. Since I met him we had a very strong connection. He’s someone who I lean on when I have to talk about something. I always call him and he’s the same with me. We have a very fluid communication and I really feel that people will like our joint track on the album. He is very special in my life and in my career.
How do you navigate depression today? Are there any coping mechanisms that helped?
First, talk things out. You have to at least have one or two trusted people in your life to whom you can tell everything and have another point of view. After, full therapy. I do holistic therapy, which requires spirituality and family trees. I do therapy with microdoses of mushrooms that are being studied and are very healthy for the mind and much better than Xanax and other pills. I meditate, train when I can, and really try to breathe. I think breathing is very key and a free tool that we all have. During any anxious moment, take three minutes to breathe, and it can really change your day. If you do it with constancy, it changes your month, and if you do it with a lot of persistence, it changes your life. I knew how to analyze all these factors and they help me every day.
Sebastian Yatra picks up his eighth No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Airplay chart as “Una Noche Sin Pensar” rises 2-1 to lead the May 27-dated list. The new leader follows the six-week champ “Tacones Rojos,” Yatra’s longest-leading track on the list (two weeks at No. 1 in January, with four earlier weeks at No. 1 in February-March of 2022).
“Una Noche Sin Pensar” hits No. 1 in its 13th week on the ranking with a 20% gain in audience impressions, to 10.2 million, earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 18, according to Luminate. It sends Karol G and Shakira’s “TQG” to No 2 after four weeks in charge.
With the new champ, Yatra improves his career total of Latin Pop Airplay No. 1s to eight, and enters a tie with Chayanne for the eighth-most No. 1s among Latin pop male acts, a mark helmed by Enrique Iglesias with a total of 25 since the chart began in 1994. Here’s a look at those Latin male artists with the most No. 1 Latin pop songs:
25, Enrique Iglesias12, Ricky Martin11, Cristian Castro11, Juanes10, Luis Fonsi10, Luis Miguel10, Ricardo Arjona8, Chayanne8, Sebastián Yatra
At 13 weeks, “Una Noche” ties for Yatra’s second-longest trek to the summit among his eight rulers. “TBT,” with Rauw Alejandro and Manuel Turizo, also needed 13 weeks on its way to a three-week takeover in June 2020. Meanwhile, “Bonita” with Juanes outpaced both tracks, hitting No. 1 in its eighth week in November 2019.
Beyond its Latin Pop Airplay coronation, “Una Noche” climbs to its new No. 3 high, from No. 6, on Latin Airplay, Yatra’s highest ranking since “Tacones Rojos” placed him at the penthouse for one week in February 2022.
Shakira’s ‘Acróstico’ Lands: Elsewhere on Latin Pop Airplay, Shakira captures her 41st top 10 with “Acróstico” at No. 6. The intimate piano ballad, which includes vocals by her sons Milan and Sasha, was released May 11 with a lyric video via Sony Music Latin. According to Luminate, the track generated 2.6 million audience impressions after its first tracking week.
With 41 top 10s on her chart account, Shakira continues to rank third among all acts, only behind Enrique Iglesias, who leads with 45 top 10s, and Ricky Martin’s 42.
Further, “Acróstico” also makes its debut across Billboard charts: No. 11 on Billboard Global Excl. U.S., No. 13 on Global 200, No. 16 on the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs chart, No. 39 on Latin Airplay, and No. 84 on Billboard Hot 100.
Two decades after rising to fame with the leading role in Selena, Jennifer Lopez is back demonstrating her cinematic rallying power with the action thriller The Mother, which premiered May 12 on Netflix. The movie has led the streaming platform’s Global Top 10 for two consecutive weeks, with more than 94 million hours viewed globally […]
Rosalía is seemingly standing up for herself after artist JC Reyes attempted to benefit from her fame by posting photoshopped nude photos of her on social media. “Ir a buscar clout faltando el respeto y sexualizando a alguien es un tipo d violencia y da asco pero hacerlo por 4 plays de + lo q […]
The lyrics of “Fugitivos,” Mexican trio Camila’s first single in a decade, describe the feeling of its reunited members. “It’s never too late for a new beginning,” says the powerful ballad, serving as a reintroduction of Mario Domm (vocals and piano), Samo Parra (vocals) and Pablo Hurtado (guitar) in the trio’s second wind since they reunited back in January.
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The reunion of these voices — which in the past filled the Foro Sol in Mexico City and won several Latin Grammys and Billboard Latin Music Awards with songs like “Mientes” and “Aléjate De Mí” — arrives two decades after their foundation, and ten years after they went on a hiatus.
“I sent a message to Samo and he answered the way he is. As soon as I saw his reply, I knew that this was going to happen, that we would be together again,” Domm recalls tearfully in an exclusive interview with Billboard Español.
Camila became a duo in 2013 after Samo departed to pursue a solo career after strenuous tours, four studio albums, and the recognition by the music industry as one of the most successful projects of the ’00s. Under the new format, Domm and Hurtado released the album Elypse in 2014, while Samo debuted as a soloist and put out two albums, Inevitable (2013) and Eterno (2017), as well as the live set Me Quito El Sombrero (2015).
But the real magic happens when the three of them are together, regardless of the potential they each have as musicians: Domm is one of the most celebrated Latin songwriters of his generation, with songs recorded by stars like Alejandra Guzmán, Thalia and Paulina Rubio; Samo’s voice stands out for its elegance, and Hurtado’s guitar adds a touch of rock to Camila’s musical offerings.
And fans seem happy and eager to have them back. Released on March 31 through Sony Music Latin, “Fugitivos” put the Mexican trio back in the top 10 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Airplay, jumping 23-9 on the April 22 chart. It is currently on its second week at No. 5 — Camila’s first top 10 since 2014 and also its first since Samo’s return.
“There have been moments by ourselves, separately, that have made us grow as artists and as human beings,” Samo says, adding that “now that it’s happening … it was a process of recognizing each other all over again.”
In total, Camila has amassed 14 top 10s (three of those hitting No. 1) among its 19 Latin Pop Airplay career entries, dating back to its first, the No. 8 high “Abrázame” in 2006. The Mexicans charted their first No. 1 hit with “Mientes,” which topped the ranking for 10 consecutive weeks in February-May 2010.
Their return comes as regional Mexican music and reggaetón have taken the world by storm with millions of views on YouTube, record numbers on Spotify and No. 1s on the Billboard charts, thanks to superstars like Bad Bunny, Rosalía, Peso Pluma and Karol G. But the trio doesn’t feel pressure and opts to flow with its own style.
“It’s very encouraging for us that the music now ruling is the regional Mexican, the urbano music, not necessarily the pop-rock ballads to which we belong. But there’s a fact I wish to underscore: Watching a Mexican band at the world’s top was unthinkable years ago. Music no longer has borders, it has become globalized,” says Hurtado.
Mario Domm says that “Fugitivos” is the first of other singles Camila plans to release, all part of a new album that would drop later this year.
While that happens, the band has announced three concerts in Mexico to celebrate their return to the stage, starting Oct. 14 at the Telmex Auditorium in Guadalajara, and following Oct. 15 at the National Auditorium in Mexico City and Dec. 1 at the Arena Monterrey, in the northern Mexican city.
“With the people’s energy, I feel that this is where we’re going to break,” Domm adds. “That’s where the best part of this all will begin.”